Indian bus manufacturers could soon be looking at exploring new opportunities in the Middle East, which seems to be encouraging the development of public transport infrastructure in a big way...
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia are now looking at spending significant sums of money to expand their bus networks. Abu Dhabi, which had only a few dozen bus services till a few years ago, is expected to have more than 1,700 buses on its roads by mid-2010. Dubai is looking at similar expansion, with its Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) working on adding more bus routes, linking in to its new Metro rail system.
While Dubai recently inked a deal to buy more than 500 new buses, at a cost of AED 845 million (Rs 1,000 crore), Riyadh has roped in public transport specialists from Germany in order to take formulate a master plan for promoting the usage of buses in the Saudi capital.
‘Oil prices are near the highest level in a year and auto sales in the UAE are expected to rise 5% in 2010, as easing liquidity conditions boosts confidence in the sector. We are confident that the commercial vehicles market will be one of the next to benefit from the UAE’s general economic recovery,’ says Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Director General, Hamad Buamim.
By 2020, Dubai’s population is expected to exceed five million, with mobility demand set to quadruple to 22 million daily passenger trips. In response, the RTA’s master plan is designed to increase the modal share of public transport from the current 6% to about 30% over the next ten years, at the expense of private cars.
This could also be an opportunity for commercial vehicle manufacturers in India, who could look at supplying high-end luxury buses to these markets in the Middle East.
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